Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Government has made to the Bahrainian Government on the (a) dissolution of the Al-Wefaq political party and (b) imprisonment of Sheikh Ali Salman.

The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson), issued a statement expressing concerns on the day of the Bahraini High Administrative Court’s decision to dissolve the main Bahraini Shia opposition political society Al Wefaq.

We have raised our concerns about the case of Sheikh Ali Salman at Ministerial level, including during the visit of the former Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), to Bahrain in May 2016. Embassy officials have attended every hearing and we continue to monitor the case closely.